oil Archive

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  How would you like one of these in Doubtful Sound? - by frog

  
  
  
  This oil rig has been spewing oil into the sea for eight weeks. Eight! At 400 barrels per day! The company at the centre of the oil spill, PTTEP Australasia, will have its third attempt at intercepting and plugging the leak tomorrow. Good luck guys! Look out for whatever’s causing that big plume of smoke! [...] read more
  October 21, 2009 5:22 pm - 4 Comments
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  NZ Govt risks apostrophe war in archipelago - by frog

  
  
  
  Someone wise once said that the word is more powerful than the sword, and today’s Government statement could be seen as a desperate and venal attempt by the New Zealand Government to provoke Indonesia. read more
  October 18, 2009 5:39 pm - 12 Comments
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  Procurement: which costs are saved? - by frog

  
  
  
  The Government has just announced it is to review and reform state sector procurement. The Government Procurement Reform Agenda is based around four key themes: ·         Cost savings. ·         Building procurement capability and capacity. ·         Enhanced business participation. ·         Improved governance, oversight and accountability. Cost savings:  just to the Government’s expenditure or also saving costs [...] read more
  June 11, 2009 11:55 am - 4 Comments
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  General Debate, June 4, 2009 - by frog

  
  
  
  Serious allegations swirl around the head of a fallen National Party Minister. The healthy food in schools debate runs hot, but civil on a highjacked thread. Oil hovers in the mid-sixties, a harbinger, if my earlier predictions were correct, of the beginning of an economic recovery, at least as the growth-worshippers measure it. Your thoughts [...] read more
  June 4, 2009 9:22 am - 21 Comments
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  Hasta la pasta! - by frog

  
  
  
  Biogas from municipal waste is the Stockholm transport authority’s preferred fuel for the future of buses in their city. They’re aiming for a carbon neutral public transport system by 2025. It featured in a recent advertising campaign on the buses, billed “Thanks for the Food”, which said: Thank you for eating cannelloni and gravadlax last [...] read more
  May 14, 2009 3:00 pm - 7 Comments
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  Scientific Megalomania? - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  The Education and Science Select Committee carries out financial reviews of Crown Research institutes which is a fascinating process, not so much the glossy balance sheets but reading between the lines. We also get to speak with the heads of these bodies and ask questions about the work. Yesterday we meet with Geological and Nuclear [...] read more
  May 1, 2009 9:40 am - 21 Comments
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  Powering our farms with sunshine not oil - by frog

  
  
  
  Graham Harvey, the author of The Carbon Fields, has a good opinion piece here, where he talks about our lack of food security: Our food supply is now more dependent on globally traded grains than at any time in our history. This makes it inherently unstable and vulnerable to the kind of catastrophic meltdown that [...] read more
  November 5, 2008 3:06 pm - 15 Comments
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  The big Oil Crunch within five years - by frog

  
  
  
  A report released last week says the crunch will be upon us very soon, and Shell oil agrees. From the Guardian: The report was issued today by the recently established UK industry taskforce on peak oil and energy security, a group of eight companies including transport firms Virgin, Stagecoach and FirstGroup, engineers Arup, architects Foster [...] read more
  November 4, 2008 10:54 am - 46 Comments
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  IEA´s unnaproved draft oil report - by frog

  
  
  
  For those who follow the oil game, the IEA´s announcement last May that their complete review of the world oil supply situation wouldn´t come out until the week after the US Presidential election came as no surprise. The last thing that any American administration would want to do is spook the markets just prior to [...] read more
  October 30, 2008 10:31 am - 17 Comments
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  Preparing for peak oil - by frog

  
  
  
  In amongst the flurry about what happens in the next three weeks this news story about what happens in the next 15 years caught me eye: Senior North Shore City transport strategist Archer Davis, speaking on behalf of Engineers for Social Responsibility, said a conservative estimate of a 4 per cent annual decline in oil [...] read more
  October 21, 2008 2:50 pm - 25 Comments
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  King’s new road may be illegal - by frog

  
  
  
  With its announcement that it will use the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax to fund 80 percent of a new road in northern Auckland the government has just earned two more black marks against it’s records on issues that are plaguing it during the campaign; trustworthiness and illegality. The road, Penlink, which will cost $183 million [...] read more
  October 8, 2008 10:03 am - 6 Comments
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  Peak oil, subprime loans and poor oversight - by frog

  
  
  
  At the slimmest edge of his reasoning, I find myself agreeing with that great Kiwi free market apologist, Roger Kerr. Poor oversight has pumped billions of dollars into useless paper assets, primarily property. However, It is entirely disingenuous to blame the government for that. An oil price spike, one of the early symptoms of the [...] read more
  September 30, 2008 3:44 pm - 10 Comments
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  Oil spikes $25, then retreats - by frog

  
  
  
  Oil took a violent swing upwards at the close of business yesterday, as a collapsing US Dollar and an expiring long-term crude oil contract led the market to believe that one of the big fund managers was being caught short. To translate – the market smelled blood and everyone jumped in. Despite spiking to $130, [...] read more
  September 23, 2008 10:51 am - No Comments
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  Glaciers retreat - by frog

  
  
  
  Hot Topic has the best detailed coverage of the news that Southern Alps glaciers have lost 2.2 billion tonnes of permanent ice between April 2007 and March 2008. That is the fourth highest annual loss since monitoring started and is about 5% of the glaciers’ total mass. Gareth Renowden has graphs, quotes from NIWA and [...] read more
  September 15, 2008 10:24 am - 27 Comments
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  Oil dips below $100 - by frog

  
  
  
  In a clear sign of relief that oil production and refining won’t be severely hampered by hurricane Ike’s devastation, oil has broken through the very important psychological floor, trading at $99.57 as I write. This is hugely important for global petrol prices. Unfortunately, New Zealand is not likely to benefit a great deal from the [...] read more
  September 15, 2008 10:13 am - 14 Comments
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  Car Free Day in China - by frog

  
  
  
  Have I mentioned it’s Car Free Day soon?  Oh I have.  Well, China has thrown out quite a big “I dare you“: China plans to ban cars from streets in 108 cities in its first “No Car Day” on Sept. 22, part of an effort to promote environmental protection and ease congestion in the world’s [...] read more
  September 14, 2008 7:03 am - 36 Comments
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  Car Free Day, 22 September - by frog

  
  
  
  Yup, it’s coming again.  Last year Hamilton offered all it’s citizens free bus rides during Car Free Day. And there are guaranteed to be interesting, innovative and freedom promoting things happening in towns and cities around NZ again this year. (In fact why not let us know what’s happening in your town in the comments [...] read more
  September 11, 2008 8:51 am - 6 Comments
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  Peak Oil and Climate Change for Armchair Warriors - by frog

  
  
  
  I have written a lot about the twin challenges of peak oil and climate change facing humanity. So has the IPCC, our own Kiwi climate scientists and a whole host of pundits out there. Nothing however, is as compelling as live, up to the minute reporting and projections. StormPulse lets you watch as the third [...] read more
  September 10, 2008 4:23 pm - 32 Comments
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  Kiss your gas goodbye - by frog

  
  
  
  It was a clever name for a very serious event in Sebastopol, California. Sponsored by the Post Carbon Institute, it was a launch of their Ten Steps for Individuals programme for weaning ourselves off of our oil addiction. The key message is one familiar to kiwis and frogblog readers – localise! While the programme was [...] read more
  September 10, 2008 10:24 am - 4 Comments
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  Fossil fuels are the bottled water of energy - by frog

  
  
  
  There’s a tidy little metaphor at the Huffington Post describing fossil fuels as the bottled water of energy because of the energy and water it takes to manufacture, ship and discard the product.It gives three reasons: Like bottled water, fossil fuels are mined from countries around the world, processed, shipped and then, finally, consumed. This [...] read more
  September 8, 2008 9:12 am - 11 Comments